I'm moving to Philly from Raleigh, NC this fall to start @ UArts, and I am very curious about the Bella Vista area. I'm looking for a ethnically diverse area that is safe to stumble home drunk in...and affordable. If anyone can help me out by suggesting and area, or giving more info on BV/QV that would be awesome.
thnx-

Sounds like you'd like BV. Lots of good eat/drink options within reasonable stumbling distance. Safety - well, if you're drunk on the street at 2 am, you are taking a more substantial risk, there's no doubt about that. But that's the case anywhere in the city. When Penn students get mugged, it's usually in the wee hours, coming back from bars or parties.

I'd guess BV is pretty diverse, too, thanks to the Italian Market, which brings all kinds of folks from all over the city. In addition to the traditional Italian-American contingent, you've recently got very strong communities of Southeast Asian and Mexican people, many of them opening their own businesses. I love that part of town.

I like that diversity stuff and all, but if anybody is an illegal alien they should be reported to the Department of Homeland Security.

I lived in BV for 2 years and never worried about stumbling home from South Street late at night.

It has a decent mix of ethnicities. Originally mostly Italian, but all of the newbies are from different walks of life.

Close to CC, UArts, home of the Italian Market, seems to be a lot of artists in and around BV.

It is not necessarily cheap....but that is relative to what you are looking to spend?

-UC

Is Bella Vista diverse? Most definitely. The majority probably is still Italian-American but there's a large SE Asian and Mexican community there as well.

I'm not sure how old this thread really is with all the new forum stuff and crashing going on. I've lived in this area, on and off, for 9 years now and it's not really diverse at all. The area south of here is diverse but not BV. If you can find anybody who doesn't have european blood lines that actually lives in BV I'd be shocked. Even most of the Italians have been chased out long ago. Working at the market doen't mean you live there.